Talk to me about Cheerleading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former cheerleader here, only admitted on an anonymous board, never in real life, even in my 50s now. If they are a flyer, have them do gymnastics instead, because the chance of serious injuries are too great in cheer. Also - it's a group of shallow, catty, clique girls - not who you probably want your daughter hanging out with.

This is a WILD statement and not at all true in my or my two girls’ experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's SO bad for the body - they're tumbling on a hardwood floor - if they're LUCKY there's a thin mat that's more like carpeting when they practice. The shoes don't absorb shocks, the people who are the base aren't professionals so flyers fall and get hurt, every former cheerleader I know who is an ADULT has some permanent problem that stems from a cheerleader.

This is a ridiculous exaggeration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former cheerleader here, only admitted on an anonymous board, never in real life, even in my 50s now. If they are a flyer, have them do gymnastics instead, because the chance of serious injuries are too great in cheer. Also - it's a group of shallow, catty, clique girls - not who you probably want your daughter hanging out with.

This is a WILD statement and not at all true in my or my two girls’ experience.

Seriously. If anything most of the cheerleaders we know are friendly and outgoing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's SO bad for the body - they're tumbling on a hardwood floor - if they're LUCKY there's a thin mat that's more like carpeting when they practice. The shoes don't absorb shocks, the people who are the base aren't professionals so flyers fall and get hurt, every former cheerleader I know who is an ADULT has some permanent problem that stems from a cheerleader.

This is a ridiculous exaggeration.

Thus is untrue. HS cheerleaders must tumble on a mat, not hardwood. Every adult cheerleader I know does not have a permanent problem. All those cheer coaches are adults that were previously cheerleaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's SO bad for the body - they're tumbling on a hardwood floor - if they're LUCKY there's a thin mat that's more like carpeting when they practice. The shoes don't absorb shocks, the people who are the base aren't professionals so flyers fall and get hurt, every former cheerleader I know who is an ADULT has some permanent problem that stems from a cheerleader.

This is a ridiculous exaggeration.

Our school's JV squad does nothing dangerous. Like just jumping in the air and stuff like that. The varsity squad does all the tumbling and pyramids etc etc, and it definitely looks dangerous, especially when they're doing it on a track for football games. I would be comfortable with my kid doing JV at our school.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the negativity posted here is just the same tired cheer stigma. If this thread was about soccer or basketball, nobody would be saying “every adult has permanent damage.” Cheer gets treated like a joke AND a danger at the same time, which makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this is a crazy negative bunch of comments. My kid is a gymnast, so has a few friends who as they got older switched to cheer. The HS cheer team is pretty low key, and I've heard the girls are super supportive and it's a great atmosphere. I think this is really dependent on the coach. No one gives the cheerleaders a hard time, because at this point, people are pretty familiar with the fact that they do routines in competitions that are unrelated to football games.

My daughter might try out next year (as a sophmore) just for the fun of it. There are definitely injuries, and I don't think you should take that lightly, but we're already in gymnastics, so that's been a part of her sports career...

LOL supportive cheerleaders.....

[Anonymous]

Cheerleaders at our MCPS put nude photos of themselves on the internet. Tortured a girl who made the team and the rest of the girls thought she was "ugly".

Our dance team was similar as girls were just awful to 1 girl per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheerleaders at our MCPS put nude photos of themselves on the internet. Tortured a girl who made the team and the rest of the girls thought she was "ugly".

Our dance team was similar as girls were just awful to 1 girl per year.

Sounds like a shit school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find that cheerleaders are the butt of many jokes and aren't taken seriously as people and most certainly as athletes. I would steer my daughter away.

+1 it will affect her future (college, job) unless she keeps it very well hidden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find that cheerleaders are the butt of many jokes and aren't taken seriously as people and most certainly as athletes. I would steer my daughter away.

+1 it will affect her future (college, job) unless she keeps it very well hidden.

you are stupid

[Anonymous]

If cheerleading industry can treat them as athletes and not try to make them eye candy with skimpy uniforms, cheerleading would get due respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheerleaders at our MCPS put nude photos of themselves on the internet. Tortured a girl who made the team and the rest of the girls thought she was "ugly".

Our dance team was similar as girls were just awful to 1 girl per year.

And I'm assuming they were all kicked off the team? MCPS cheerleaders are held to the same standards as all HS athletes; and the standards for athletes are much higher than non-athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If cheerleading industry can treat them as athletes and not try to make them eye candy with skimpy uniforms, cheerleading would get due respect.

I'm a little confused. What makes them eye candy? Their skirts? Cheerleaders wear shorts under their skirts. The only difference between a volleyball player and a cheerleader for example is that cheerleaders wear skirts over their shorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find that cheerleaders are the butt of many jokes and aren't taken seriously as people and most certainly as athletes. I would steer my daughter away.

And girls who play softball, basketball and field hockey are big girl lesbians. Does that stop girls from playing? Because those jokes are older than the jokes about cheerleaders.

You don’t “steer” a teen away from an activity that she will enjoy. To OP - New England states aren’t similar to Southern states. It’s more chill and they have a lot of fun